Top management commitment and

Empowerment of employees in TQM

implementation

Thaddeus Litie Njie

Linus Teku Fon

Gbolahan Awomodu

This thesis comprises 15 ECTS credits and is a compulsory part in the Master of Science with a major in
Industrial Engineering-Quality and Environmental management
Nr. 9/ 2008
Top management commitment and empowerment of employees in TQM implementation

Thaddeus Litie Njie

Linus Teku Fon

Gbolahan Awomodu

Master thesis

Subject Category: Industrial Engineering- Quality and Environmental Management

Series and Number 9/2008

University College of Borås

School of Engineering
SE-501 90 BORÅS
Telephone +46 033 435 4640

Examiner: Dr. Henrik Eriksson

Supervisor: Dr. Maria Fredriksson

Client: Theoretical thesis. School of Engineering. University college of Borås

Date: 12th June 2008

Keywords: Total quality management, Employee empowerment, Top management

commitment.

ii
Abstract
Top management commitment and employees empowerment is one of the most important and
vital principle in total quality management, because it is often assumes to have a strong
relationship with customer satisfaction. In TQM implementation top management
commitment in creating an organizational climate that empowers employees is very
imperative. Thus, this can be achieved with top management commitment in training
employees and giving employees opportunities to be responsible for the quality of their work.
TQM strategy brings about a turn around in corporate culture as compared to the old
traditional system of management in which the top management simply give orders and the
employees merely obey them. In this study we’ll show that TQM objective of quality
improvement and customer satisfaction can be better achieve if the top management are
committed to empower employees to be responsible for the quality of their work and also
empowerment in relation to decision making authority and process. We’ll as well show that
empowerment in TQM brings about a flattened organizational chart where there is a shared
responsibility between the managers and the employees. Despite some arguments put forward
by some researchers to criticize employee empowerment, we’ll as well show that employees’
empowerment and improved level of job satisfaction can be facilitated by top management
leadership and commitment to the goal of customer satisfaction in TQM organization.

Keywords: Total Quality Management, Employee Empowerment, Top Management

Commitment

iii
Table of Content

1. Introduction….................................................................................................................. 1
1.1 Background..................................................................................................................1
1.2 Research question and project objective...................................................................2
1.3 Delimitation..................................................................................................................2
1.4 Thesis structure...........................................................................................................3

2. Theoretical Framework..................................................................................................... 4
2.1. Quality management..................................................................................................4
2.2. Total quality management........................................................................................6
2.2.1 Principle of time management in TQM..........................................................7
2.2.2 Management participation in TQM................................................................7
2.2.3 Embedment in TQM practice..........................................................................8
2.2.4 Knowledge management and TQM...............................................................10
2.3. Top management leadership and TQM practice..................................................10
2.3.1 Leadership by top management.....................................................................11
2.3.2 Relationship between top management and other TQM imperatives........11
2.3.3 Top management role in project realization.................................................12
2.4. Employee empowerment and TQM practice........................................................13
2.4.1 Empowerment perspectives............................................................................13
2.4.2 Strategies to empowerment.............................................................................14
2.4.3 Training and team work to empowerment....................................................15

3. Methodology....................................................................................................................17

4 Analysis and discussion..................................................................................................23

4.1. Employee participation and involvement..............................................................23
4.2 Top management commitment................................................................................24
4.3. Total quality management......................................................................................24
5 Analysis and Discussion…...……………..…………………………………………….26

6. References……………………………………………………………………….………27

iv
1. Introduction

This chapter is made up of the background to the research area, the research question, the
delimitation. The structure of the thesis is also presented in this chapter

1.1 Background

Total Quality Management (TQM) is a management approach which aimed at incorporating

awareness of quality in all organizational processes (Savolainen, 2000)). Many organizations
are striving for quality products and services that will meet or exceed customer’s expectations
and as a result of this they are searching for approaches to managing people and production
systems that will assure the transformation of inputs into quality output (Ugboro and Obeng,
2000). Much research has been done with regards to the implementation of total quality
management. Pheng and Jasmine (2004) pointed out that with the adoption of TQM there is
the benefits of higher customer satisfaction, better quality products and higher market shares.
Customer satisfaction is one of the prime objectives of TQM and it is the most widely
discussed approach to directing organizational efforts towards the goal of customer
satisfaction. According to Ugboro and Obeng (2000), TQM theory is based on; continuous
improvement, top management leadership and commitment to the goal of customer
satisfaction, employee empowerment and customer focus.

With the full adoption and implementation of TQM, there should be a turnaround in corporate
culture and management approaches (Quazi and Padibjo, 1997) as compared to the traditional
way of management in which the top management giving orders and employees merely
obeying them. Plutat (1994) pointed out that TQM is generally perceived to emphasize
employee empowerment and de-emphasize status distinction. Since TQM organization is
basically a customer oriented organization, Brown et al. (1994) suggested organization should
strive to maximize customer satisfaction rather than internal efficiency and stress the point
that each person within the organization should consider the need of the next person in line
who uses its output.

Pheng and Jasmine (1995) emphasizes that if there is lack of commitment from top
management then TQM cannot be implemented in its entirety and also stress the fact that the
support that management takes in implementing a total quality environment is very critical to

1
the success of the TQM implementation. According to Ugboro and Obeng (2000), many
advocates of TQM hold that the goal of customer satisfaction is achieved through top
management leadership and commitment to creating an organizational climate that empowers
employees and as well focuses on the goal of customer satisfaction. Kappelman and Prybutok
(1995) also puts forward that giving workers an empowerment opportunity can have a
significant effect on the employee motivation and satisfaction which brings about to some
extent the overall success of any TQM programs.

1.2 Research Question and project objective

It is imperative to know that some advocates of TQM are of the opinion that, TQM has a
universal advantage such as, increasing competitiveness in organizations and at the same time
empowering of workforces by delegating responsibility to those carrying the tasks (Wilkinson
et al. 1997). According to Oakland (1993), this increased responsibility is thought to foster
pride, job satisfaction and a better working condition. On the other hand, some other school of
thoughts and critics points out the fact that there is higher degree of managerial control
involved in the drive to reduce variance (Parker and Slaughter, 1993).

In this study we are going to answer the question “Will the objective of customer satisfaction,
be achieved through top management commitment to empower employees in TQM
organizations?

1.3 Delimitation
This academic piece of writing is a theoretical research and the study is limited to published
peer reviewed academic journals, lecture notes and some books.

2
1.4 Thesis Structure

The chapters of this thesis are presented as follows;

Chapter 1. Introduction: The background to the research area, the research question, the
project objectives, Delimitation as well as the thesis structure are presented in this chapter.

Chapter 2. Literature review/Theoretical frame of reference: The literature review is

presented in this chapter. Important aspects addressed in this chapter are; Quality
Management, Total Quality Management, Top management commitment and Employees
empowerment.

Chapter 3. Methodology: In this chapter we used secondary data from published articles.
We also give a description of the aspects related to our research approach

Chapter 4. Analysis. This chapter gives a critical analysis of the methodology. Aspects such
as TQM, top management leadership and employee empowerment is critically being analyse
in this chapter.

Chapter 5. Discussion and Conclusion. Here a discussion in relation to our research

question is made. Aspects on the Literature review, methodology and analysis are critically
discussed in order to answer our research question

Chapter 6. References. This chapter contains references that are used in this research

3
2. Theoretical frame of reference

Top management commitment, and employee empowerment are often cited in most of the
TQM literature as crucial elements of a successful TQM program (Deming, 1982; Bowen,
1994; Bowen and Schneider, 1995).

2.1 Quality Management

Stoner et al. (1995) defines management as the process of planning, organizing, leading and
controlling the resources and the work of the members of the organization in order to reach a
common goal. Quality management on the other hand is a management strategy for ensuring
that all the activities which are necessary to design, develop and implement a product or
service are effective and efficient with respect to the system and its performance. The work of
quality management actually resulted from the quality gurus and their theories like Deming,
Feigenbaum and Juran.

Deming, one of the quality gurus placed great responsibility and importance on quality
management. He emphasizes quality at both the individual and company level and he believes
that managements are responsible for 94% of most quality problems. He came out with a
fourteen point plan and this plan is a complete philosophy which can be applied to small and
large business organizations, both in the public, private and service sector. (Deming, 1982)

He encourage a systematic approach to problem solving and promoted the widely known
Plan, Do, Check and Act (PDCA) cycle also known today as the Deming cycle

4
 P D
Plan Do

A. C
Act
Check

Fig 1. Deming cycle, a systematic approach to problem solving

From quality management, came total quality control by Feigenbuam who called it total
quality. He defines it as “ An effective system for integrating quality development, quality
maintenance and quality improvement efforts of the various groups within an organization, so
as to enable production and service at the most economical levels that allows full customer
satisfaction” (Feigenbaum, 1983). He also as well came out with three steps to quality;
Quality leadership, Modern quality technology and organization commitment. (Feigenbaum,
1983).

Juran also came out with the quality trilogy principle. He perceived quality in three
dimension; quality planning, quality control and quality improvement. He emphasized that in
any good and efficient quality management quality actions are to be planned, improved and
control. He as well believes that quality is associated with customer satisfaction and
dissatisfaction with a product (Juran, 1988)

5
2.2 Total quality management

The root of TQM can be traced back to early 1920’s production quality control ideas, and the
concept was developed in Japan in the late 1940’s and 1950’s and pioneered by Americans
Freigenbum, Juran and Deming. Total quality management (TQM), in its total effect is to
involve all stakeholders in organization fully in programs that will increase organizational
productivity, its profitability, effective work-place efficiency, improved job satisfaction,
employee morale, and continuous product quality improvement.

From the principles of total quality management (TQM), and other management theories; it is
evident that, there all are highly structured towards one philosophy that is waste reduction and
continuous improvement, in order to achieve a common goal; customer satisfaction (Adair,
2004 and Emerald, 2005). It is imperative to know that the success of continuous
improvement; requires people to know what task to do at a given time and how to do it. This
thus, further echoed some four basic governing principles that should be involved in total
quality management.

-People –based management

-Meeting – beyond customers satisfaction

-Continuous improvement

-Fact- based management.

All these principles if well implemented will result to improved business process. Basically,
to achieve this, each of the principles is translated into practice using some core concepts. The
effective use of these core concepts is determined by the efficiency of the top management
leadership towards their drive or enthusiasm towards business excellence (Hoffherr et al.
1994). The core concepts includes; Customer satisfaction, Teamwork, Systematic process way
of working, Consistent measurement, Accepting internalized customers, People make quality,
Prevention, Continuous improvement system (Adair, 2004). Meanwhile, Hill (1991) in his
report pointed out that TQM is based on three fundamental principles; customer orientation,
process orientation and continuous improvement. Looking at the some of these fundamental
principles, it is most important for every stakeholder to have a purposeful understanding of
TQM, its importance and positive long time effect it will have in organizational structure.

6
2.2.1 Principles of time management in TQM

It is imperative that a successful leadership must not necessarily make use of all the quality
management principles but understand the concepts of the different principles governing
TQM. And above all, effective management of time that is focussed on goal-driven and
results oriented. According to Adair (2004), ability to work to the best of our knowledge to
improve all systems, processes, customers’ satisfaction and employees’ satisfaction is
synonymous to quality management. However, in the case where all employees and managers
are involved while thinking of quality as an ongoing, integral part of the business, it becomes
total quality management (Adair, 2004 and Emerald, 2005). On the other hand, Adair (2004)
emphasizes that time management is one of the fundamental principles of TQM, and came out
with the following ten principles of time management

1. Time audit

2. Identifying long-term goals

3. Making medium-term plans

4. Planning the day

5. Making the best use of your best time

6. Organising office work

7. Managing meetings

8. Delegating effectively

9. Making use of committed time

10. Managing your health

The basic understanding of pre-knowledge of time management gives a conscious total

quality management approach to day-to-day activities of an organization.

2.2.2 Management participation in TQM

Emerald (2005) emphasized that, for a successful application of the management theories and
to achieve a long term goals, it is of great importance if top management could avoid losing
focus of their managerial role; has role model and active participant in decision
implementation. In addition, the success of an organization is when top management are fully
involved in work process, with follow-ups and free flow of information or communication.

7
Andersson (2007) and Stoner et al. (1995), highlighted management concept as planning or
organizing processes that will lead to control of all types of resources in an organisation, in
order to reach a common vision. This will eventually transcend to continuous evolution of
modern quality management as organization favourable respond to changes in business
demands. On the other hand, Bergman and Klefsjö (2003) further explained; with quality
dimensions in three different phenomena, which will deepen the understanding of what create
customer satisfaction and values.

1. Quality concept which represents the un-mentionable needs of customers and further
pointed out that even if the basic needs are fulfilled to the customers is not actually sufficient
to make the customer satisfied. This explains the scope of quality as a subject matter that
varies from one customer to another.

2. Expected quality which gives an insight into mentionable needs when asked in which the
customer is fully aware of the needs and that requires to be met.

3. Attractive quality which involves the needs that the customer is no aware of and will not
make mention of if asked about. It is very imperative to organizations if they can identify the
needs and expectations of customers and try to satisfy them by using their own pre-
judgement. If this can be done, large values can be added to either the service or products.
With the good knowledge of these dimension of quality, a more competitive edge an be gain
in the company over its competitors and will stand in a better position of winning loyal
customers

2.2.3 Embedment of TQM practices

Savolainen (2000) reported that ideological perspective on TQM has been focused on the
aspect of leadership in TQM implementation. It was later concluded in the same report that an
embedding of TQM promotes a logical innovation with shared values that helps to nurture
organizational culture where entrepreneurial spirit is consciously buffered and it supports
business environment challenges. The success of an embedding of TQM should be aided by
the top and upper management that allows the use of co-mediated quality expert.

On the other hand, a mindless change process that does not involves internalized concept has
been a common scenarios in TQM programs, where external influences are imported and
applied as a non- tailored formula (Mintzberg and Wesley, 1992).

8
 Free flow of communication

(Strategic benchmarking)

Entrepreneurial Spirit
Top management Quality Experts
Role (The persuader)

Consistent implementation and

friendly persuasion

Figure 2. Criteria for successful TQM implementation (Savolainen 2000)

According to, Peng and John (2002); and Anderson et al. (2005), TQM was an operating
strategy embraced by many firms in order to improve on the quality of their products and
services. This thus, equally shows out TQM does not only focuses on customer satisfaction
but rather it propagate the trimming down of hierarchy in an organisations or company as
much as possible, resulting to team work and empowerment of employees as also advocated
by quality guru (Deming, 1982), and in the work of managing for quality by Juran (1988).

However, based on the work of Kroslid (1999), two different thoughts of quality management
were identified, “the deterministic school of thought” which he characterised by compliance
to standards and specifications through procedures; for example, the ISO 9000 standard and
followed by the “continuous improvement school of thought”. Lawler (1994) outlined that
ISO 9000:2000 quality standards serves as a subset of TQM overall requirements. He further
reiterates that it requires lots of documentations and its certifications stands as an excellent
starting point for TQM implementation.

9
On the bases of the continuous improvement, compliance to standard procedures and
embedding of TQM, the primary role is to meet beyond customer satisfaction. This thus, can
be reached in true spirit of job commitment and effective flow of communication.

2.2.4 Knowledge management and TQM

The application of TQM can as well be complemented with knowledge management (KM).
Knowledge management is an organized and systematic way to improve the ability of an
organization to utilize knowledge that will used to enhance decision making, take actions, and
deliver results in improving existing business strategy (Bowen and Lawler, 1992).

Nevertheless, TQM and KM have some similarities which includes; people –based
management, results oriented, leadership, effective communication, teamwork and meeting
beyond customer satisfaction. There differences consist of continuous improvement and fact-
based management because KM basically focuses on building cultural support for sharing and
generating knowledge. In addition, people play a vital role in disseminating, acquiring and
using knowledge. Therefore, the fundamental understanding of KM will improve the
implementation of basic quality tools that will enhance the competitive strength of a firm. A
conscious understanding of cultural influence on decision making in organisation is
paramount to a successful implementation of policies that will readily meet up all
stakeholders’ needs and satisfaction.

2.3 Top management commitment and TQM practice

Management role in quality management has been highlighted as one of the crucial
requirement for a successful quality improvement implementation (Crosby, 1979; Deming,
1982; Feigenbaum, 1983; Garvin, 1988; Juran and Gryna, 1988). According to Pheng and
Jasmine (2004), the degree of support that management takes in the implementation a total
quality environment is very critical to the success of TQM implementation and TQM cannot
be fully implemented if there is lack of commitment from top management. Commitment of
top managers in TQM implementation will enable the employees to follow their direction and
way of working.

10
2.3.1 Leadership by top management

Quality leadership by top management has been emphasized and supported by many
researchers as the basis for proper implementation of TQM in order to achieve customer
satisfaction, quality product, continuous improvement and job satisfaction (Aderson et al.
1995). In order to achieve total quality it is imperative that the top managers should clearly
define the quality goals and as well treat quality as an important aspect. They are expected to
set quality as a priority while allocating adequate resources to continuous quality
improvement and evaluating employees based on their performances (Minjoon et al. 2006).
Many organizations have failed in implementing TQM because of the reluctance of top
management in delegating some authorities and empower employees (Minjoon et al.
2006).This is a very crucial aspect because if the managers are committed in empowering the
employees, the employees will be responsible for the quality of their work and this will go a
long way to enhance continuous improvement. Top management should demonstrate
empowerment by allowing its project managers to take full responsibility and make decisions
(Pheng and Jasmine, 2004).

TQM initiative programs, always emphasizes on the importance of top management as the
main driver of TQM activities. Lawler (1994) further perceived TQM as a culture. He pointed
out that priorities should be set by top managers by ensuring that commitment to the principle
of TQM exists throughout all departments in their organization. Other advocates of TQM such
as Deming (1982) pointed out that most quality problems are caused by management and the
system they create and operate (Minjoon et al. 2006). Pearson et al. (1995) also pointed out
that managerial leaderships require management at all level should shift their role from
authoritarian decision maker to coaching facilitator.

2.3.2 Relationship between top management and other TQM imperatives

When the top management is committed in TQM implementation it will enhanced employee
empowerment, teamwork, training and employees job satisfaction.

From a study carried out by Minjoon et al. (2006), on some come companies between the
Mexican and US borders implementing TQM, management leadership was seen as an
important aspect. It showed that, significant changes could be brought to an organization,
company or institutions, based on the nature of management commitment. Their work resulted

11
to five fundamental hypotheses that relate to the relationship between top management
commitments.

1. Top management commitment has a positive impact on the level of employee

empowerment
2. Top management commitment has a positive relationship on the level of employee
training
3. Top management commitment has a positive impact on teamwork
4. Top management commitment has a positive relationship on the impact performance
appraisal system
5. Top management commitment has a positive impact on employee compensation
system.

2.3.3 Top management role in project realization

The magnitude of a successful project depends on the level of top management committed
(Olorunniwo and Udo, 2002). Project rejections, acceptance, resistance and variation is a
function of management support, thus, their involvement at all stages or levels, empowering
employees where necessary and managing resources is of paramount importance, (Beck,
1983; Manley, 1975). Olorunniwo and Udo (2002) identified three main facets of top
management support which are crucial in TQM practice and project realization.

1. Showing interest by participating in team meetings, willingness to spend time with

people and listen to feedback as well as willing to help resolve problem.
2. Providing necessary resources, including training and other crucial resources
3. Providing leadership by helping to translate plan into action, regular review of project
programs and official commissioning of project leaders and project team.
They also emphasizes the fact that top management are expected to set the overall directions
of the project by formally forming an executive steering committee to tract, review and
monitor the project progress.

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2.4 Employee empowerment and TQM practice

In most organizations, the employees are the most underutilized resources but with the advent
of TQM the organizational structure has changed dramatically. Most organizations no longer
have the one way or pyramidal hierarchical structure but have a more flattened structure
which allows for multi skilled workforce. In today’s corporate environment, managers take
the role of coaching and leadership by providing the employees with the necessary resources
and conditions they need in order to accomplish their goals.

2.4.1 Empowerment perspectives

Brymer (1991) defines empowerment as a process of decentralizing decision making in an

organization, whereby managers give more discretion and autonomy to the front line
employees.

Thomas and Velthouse (1990) perceived empowerment “as intrinsic task motivation that
manifests itself in four cognitions reflecting an individual’s orientation of his or her work
roles. By intrinsic task motivation, they are referring to “positively valued experiences that an
individual derives directly from a task that produce motivation and satisfaction (Ugboro and
Obeng, 2000). They identified four cognitions which are meaningfulness, competence, impact
and choice. By meaningfulness they are referring to the value of the task goal or purpose in
relation to an individual’s own standard and competence as the degree to which a person can
perform task activities skillfully. They as well refer to impact as the degree to which behavior
is seen as making a difference in terms of accomplishing the purpose of the task and choice as
the causal responsibility for personal actions.

Bowen and Lawler (1992) gave a more process-oriented and operational-level definition of
empowerment. They define empowerment as sharing with front-line employees’ information
about an organization’s performance, information about rewards based on the organization
performance, knowledge that enables employees to understand and contribute to the
organizational performance and giving employees the power to make decisions that influence
organizational direction and performance (Ugboro and Obeng, 2000). Denham Lincoln et al.
(2002) perceived empowerment as the use of certain techniques to transform those without
power into equitable position.

13
Conger and Kanungo (1988) view empowerment as a process of enhancing the feelings of
self-efficacy among organizational members through the identification of conditions that
foster powerlessness, and through their removal by both formal organizational practices and
informal techniques of providing efficacy information. According to Ugboro and Obeng
(2000) this definition implies strengthening the effort to performance expectancy or
increasing the employee feelings of self-efficacy.

2.4.2 Strategies to empowerment

Some employees’ empowerment strategies have been identified in some management

literature which will enhanced and promote empowerment in an organization. Block (1987)
suggested that one good strategy that enhanced the feelings of empowerment in employees is
express confidence in them as well as establishing a realistic high performance for them. He
also suggested another empowerment strategy by creating opportunity for employees to
participate in decision making and giving them the autonomy to form bureaucratic constraints.

Benis and Nanus (1985) also suggested an empowerment strategy by setting inspiring and
challenging task to the employees. Ugboro and Obeng (2000) cited Kanter (1979), Oldham
(1976) and Strauss (1977), who suggested a performance-based reward system and enriched
jobs that provide autonomy and control, task identity, opportunities for career advancement,
and task meaningfulness as ways to empower employees.

Hill (1991) proposes that TQM may empower employees by delegating responsibility for
functions that were formerly within management’s domain, which may thus serve to
institutionalize empowerment on a more or less prominent base. Managers have the sole
responsibility to identify and remove the conditions that foster a sense of powerlessness and
which lowers self-efficacy belief of employees.

Wilkinson et al. (1997) emphasizes the fact that employees are in the best position to
recognize problems and improvements if they are interested and equipped to take steps to
make improvements.

From a sales point of view, Knouse and Strutton (2006) pointed out that management should
delegate to sales people the authority needed to make local decisions about pricing, delivery,
and service. They pointed out that when any problems persist between the buyer and the
seller, prompt action and decision making should be empowered to the sales people.

14
Lawler (1994) also emphasizes the need for employees to be included in the TQM culture. He
viewed two important respects in which employees are expected to take responsibility for
quality.

1. They are expected to call attention to quality problems as they do their normal work.
They are expected to accept the continuous improvement culture and look for ways in
which they can do their job better.
2. They are also expected to look for ways in which the operation of the organization can
be improved and they need skills and information as well as vehicle that allow them to
produce change.
Employees should be encouraged to meet their natural work groups to look for ways to talk
about improved approaches and new work methods (Lawler, 1994).

2.4.3 Training and team work to empowerment

Kappelman and Prybutok (1995) emphasizes that training is a very important aspect in the
implementation of a successful TQM program as it provides an opportunity to inform
employees about the goal of TQM and also provide workers with the skills and knowledge
needed to achieve those goals. Training also provides an opportunity to empower and
motivate employees, reducing employee resistance and increases the chances of TQM
success. Empowerment is a very important aspect and actually pays off because workers need
to feel some sense of control over their work experience, and what motivates people is the
feeling of having that fulfillment of needs (Kappelman and Prybutok, 1995).

According to Pearson et al. (1995) employee involvement through teams such as self-
manage teams, quality improvement teams, management teams, and executive steering
committees allows organizations to benefit from the knowledge and skills the individuals
bring to the organizational workplace. They emphasize the fact that employees at all levels
should be charged to review and change their work processes in an effort to improve the
overall quality of the finish product and services.

Hill (1991) also advised that when organizations are contemplating the implementation of
employee empowerment, the management need to develop and communicate definitions ver
clearly, otherwise employees will not only challenge the inevitable ambiguity but may also
develop their own definitions. They also advert that critical empowerment programs should be
design to enable those with little or no power to overcome whatever forms and source of
15
domination that apply. The key factors to overcome the domination are; control over key
resources, access to decision making process and the questioning of the fundamental
legitimacy or organizational imperatives (Hill and Huq, 2004)

If empowerment is being implemented in an organization it will go a long way to flattened up

the organizational chart because managers and employees will share some responsibilities
with some level of authority being controlled.

16
3. Methodology

In our method, we used the Library at the University college of Borås to search for articles
and journals relating to our research on management commitment and empowerment of
employees. We actually did use two data bases, Business source premier and Science direct
and the key words in our search were; top management, total quality management, employee
empowerment. We found two journals where some empirical studies have been done in
relation to our subject on top management commitment and employee empowerment with
respect to TQM implementation. We collected and modified some secondary data’s from
these journals in order to provide an answer to our research question.

The first journal we found useful in our research was by Ugboro and Obeng (2000). They did
an empirical study on some companies which have adopted and implemented TQM as a
working tool to found out the relationship between top management leadership, employee
empowerment, job satisfaction and customer satisfaction in TQM organizations. They did a
survey of 800 members, both employees and top management who are responsible for the
implementation of key elements of TQM in their respective departments by sending out
questionnaires.

Another article we found useful was a research done by Pearson et al. (1995) on the
implementation of TQM by Information system managers. They did a survey of 500 managers
from the Data Processing Management Association (DPMA) by issuing out a prepared
questionnaire to know their concept, benefits and how they are implementing TQM in their
various departments.

To also emphasize the point on top management commitment in empowering employees in

TQM implementation, we as well as using a figure by Pearson et al. (1995) to show a
comparative study between traditional and TQM based management. This figure will
highlight the point that in TQM implementation the organizational chart is more flattened and
there is shared responsibility between managers and employees.

17
Table 1; Profile of the firms surveyed by Ugboro and Obeng (2000)

Business Type Total number in Survey Percent

Electronic 6 0.75

Transportation 30 3.76

Manufacturing 197 24.66

Health 72 9.01

Computers 3 0.38

Heating and air conditioning 1 0.13

Technology 41 5.13

Government 26 3.25

Food 19 2.38

Communication 43 5.26

Consultancy 47 5.88

Insurance 19 2.38

Education 24 3.00

Utility 44 5.51

Petroleum 5 0.63

Employment agency 1 0.13

Retail 1 0.13

Parcel 2 0.25

Environment 4 0.50

Others 215 26.91

Total 800 100.00

18
We equally found the correlation and relationship table significant in our method to
emphasize and show the relationship between top management commitment in terms of
leadership role and resource allocation with respect to empowerment of employees in decision
making authority and process.

Level of significance is in brackets as shown in Table 2. To highlight the importance of top

management commitment in empowering employees for the proper implementation of TQM,
we equally found in our method to use the full summation correlation coefficient on
empowerment and management commitment.

Table 2, Relationship and correlation between top management leadership and employee
empowerment (Ugboro and Obeng, 2000).

Top management Empowerment: Empowerment: Access to job

leadership Delegation of Participation/involve requirement
decision making ment in decision information
authority making process

Leadership role .6207 (.0001) .7560 (.0001) .5499 (.0001)

Commitment .4749 (.0001) .6324 (.0001) .4722 (.0001)

Resource .4150 (.0001) .5876 (.0001) .4418 (.0001)

allocation

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Table 3. Correlation coefficient on employee empowerment, top management leadership and
employee job satisfaction (Ugboro and Obeng, 2000)

A B C D E F

Employee empowerment
- .4894 .5714 .4495 .4085 .6505
-Delegation of decision
making authority to (.0001) (.0001) (.0001) (.0001) (.0001)
employees

-Employee participation in - .4925 .6603 .4779 .4831 .7470

decision making process
(.0001) (.0001) (.0001) (.0001) (.0001)

-Employee access to - .5759 .5369 .4743 .6413 .6559

information
(.0001) (.0001) (.0001) (.0001) (.0001)

Empowerment Summated .7893

(.0001)

Top Management Leadership - .4959 .6873 .4383 .4172 .6649

-Leadership (.0001) (.0001) (.0001) (.0001) (.0001)

-Commitment/Involvement - .4216 .5793 .4294 .3824 .5719

(.0001) (.0001) (.0001) (.0001) (.0001)

-Resource allocation - .3743 .5287 .4170 .2934 .5779

(.0001) (.0001) (.0001) (.0001) (.0001)

Top management summated .7136

(.0001)

The level of significance is in brackets

A. Job satisfaction summated

B. Promotion and career advancement opportunity
C. Equitable reward
D. Work environment
E. The job
F. Participation

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We found this article and secondary data on the Science Direct data base by Pearson et al.
(1995) imperative in our methodology to highlight TQM awareness and implementation by
managers.

Table 4. IS- Managers TQM awareness. (Pearson et al. 1995)

No: Heard of TQM: (n = 111)

1 Yes 90 (81.1%)

2 No 21 (18.9%)

Understanding of TQM Concepts/tools: (n = 90)

1 Completely 3 (3.3%)

2 Fairly well 41 (45.6%)

3 Somewhat 34 (37.8%)

3 A little 12 (13.3%)

4 Confused 0 (0.0%)

Perception of TQM Impact on IS: (n = 90)

1 Very Significant 28 (31.1%)

2 Significant 43 (47.8%)

3 Moderate 19 (21.1%)

4 Very Little 0 (0.0%)

21
The figure below will be used to stress the point that in TQM implementation there is a turn
around in corporate culture where the organizational chart is more flattened and no longer the
old traditional system of management whereby managers just gives order and the employees
simply merely obey them.

CUSTOMER

Line employees

CEO supervisors
Middle
Middle
t
t
supervisors
CEO

Line employees

CUSTOMER

Traditional base management TQM based management

Fig 3. Traditional versus TQM-based management approaches (Pearson et al. 1995)

All these concepts and secondary data will be highlighted, reviewed and discussed critically in
our analysis and discussion chapter.

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4. Analysis and Discussion

4.1 Employees participation and involvement

The correlation in table 2 shows a strong and significant relationship between top
management in terms of leadership role and employee empowerment in delegation of decision
making authority and involvement in decision making process. This implies that the top
management gives sufficient power to the employees in the decision making authority and
process. In terms of commitment, the top management are committed to empower the
employees in involvement in decision making process but not committed to give them
sufficient powers in decision making authority. In relation to resource allocation, the results
show that the top management do not give sufficient power to employees in decision making
authority but employees are a little involve the in the decision making process. From table 2
it is very evident that the top management prefer to empower the employees by involving
them in the decision making process but very little is done to empower them in decision
making authority. From table 3 it is evident that the employees are satisfied with their job
when empowerment is fully implemented in TQM organizations.

In TQM implementation, empowerment is an important aspect because the employee needs to

feel some control over their work and what actually brings about motivation is the fulfilment
of needs. If employees are sufficiently empowered it will definitely motivate them because
they will be satisfied with their job (Table 3). It is very imperative that the employees should
be given sufficient authority to accept the quality of their own work and they should be fully
involved in the definition of the organization quality mission and objectives. The managers
should be committed to communicate definitions clearly to employees such that they don’t
develop their own definition and bring about some inevitable ambiguity. The employees
should be given sufficient power to some control over key resources as well as the right to
know and question the organization imperatives. Empowerment programs cannot be fully
effective without training because training will enable the employees to know more about the
goals of TQM and also knowledge and skills they are required to have to be able to achieve
these goals. Employees are often in the best position to recognize problems and probably
make improvement if they are equipped to take steps to make the improvements.

23
4.2 Top management commitment

From the results in table 2 it can be seen that the top management are committed to empower
employees in involvement in decision making process in terms of leadership role and resource
allocation. Table 3 also points out clearly that the top management was satisfied with their job
while carrying on the empowerment initiative as shown by the high correlation coefficient in
top management summated (Table 3). From table 4, it is evident that some managers can
know about TQM but do not implement the concept. 81.1% of Information System (IS)
managers have a good knowledge about TQM but just 3.3% of the managers understand TQM
concepts and tools (Table 4). With respect to perception of TQM impact on information
system just 31.1% agreed that TQM has a significant effect on IS.

Top management stands as the front runner of any institution, organization, company, in
which the outcome is a reflection of their capability and commitment. TQM cannot be fully
implemented with total commitment from top managers. Minjoon et al. (2004), points out that
some TQM programs have failed in the implementation due to negligence and reluctance of
top management to delegate power and responsibility to subordinates. Some managers are
afraid due to insecurity because they believe they are accountable for their subordinates. Some
do believe that the subordinate do lack the managerial ability and appropriate skills and as a
result of this there is that lack of confidence to delegate task. That is the more reason why in
TQM implementation training is a very important imperative. Top management should be
responsible for training the employees to gain the skills and ability required to perform their
task effectively. Top managers need to realize that empowering employees through self
manage teams; quality improvement teams and management team will bring much benefit to
the organization, through individual knowledge and skills. Thus, top management
commitment requires that management at all levels should reassign the role from authoritarian
to coaching facilitator because top management commitment does not mean dictatorship but
rather their ability to monitor and control their empowered employees and giving room for
their middle and line managers to take responsibility in decision making.

4.3 Total quality management

TQM is significantly about collective use of ideas that are well structured in reaching the
same goal of customer satisfaction or exceeding customers’ expectations. Before the top
management can be committed to empower employees they must have a full understanding

24
and concept of TQM and how to use the tool to achieve its aim. Figure 3 gives a good
illustration about a TQM base management. In a traditional base management the top
managers simply give orders and the employees just merely obey them. In a TQM base
management as shown in figure 2, the organizational chart is more flattened and there is a
shared responsibility between the managers and employees. TQM based management is
largely base on team work and the customer is the top priority. Table 2, gives a better review
of correlations and the importance of commitment, leadership role, participation, delegation of
decision making and top management involvement in improving the quality standard of TQM
organization.

Taking a further critical look at Table 2 and Table 3; it was deduced that top management has
more of leadership role to play in decision making. This could be described in terms used by
Hoffherr et al. (1994) that stressed on the importance of top management being focused
minded to have higher drive for business excellence. This further requires commitment and
support of the initial structuring of TQM implementation in organizations. This keeps in line
with the report by Minjoon et al. (2004), that lack of top management support has caused
TQM failure in organization. On the other hand, top management less commitment to job and
inefficient resource allocation and full involvement of all employees in TQM practice has
substantially reduced the efficiencies of participation. The top management introduces
programs but they do not partake in the program initiated, either by using excuses because of
their other engagements or due to self confidence. Emerald (2005), advised on proper
commitment of top management in implementation of TQM and also the importance of their
participation during the process of decision implementation. Therefore, organization should
delegate more of their decision making also to lower level employees. Delegation of powers
was as well supported by Heaphy and Henderson (1990) and also by Garvin (1988) that
organizations should change their concept or idea of not allowing lower level staff free hand
that could easily make them implement technically process changes in using TQM.

Subsequently, TQM gives references and priority to customer first, by understanding the
needs or strives to meet beyond the satisfaction of customers. Top management are
encouraged to use statistical initiative in their decision making while all stakeholders are fully
involved in process of quality management.

25
5. Conclusion

Total quality management is a management approach that brings about quality awareness in
all organizational processes. For TQM to be effected in its entirety it is imperative that the top
management should be committed to empower the employees by delegating sufficient
authority for them to make both individual and collective decision. Despite some criticism to
empowerment such as lack of confidence for top management to delegate task to employees
because they feel that they lack the managerial ability and appropriate skills, it has been
shown in this study that of a full TQM program the employees need to be trained in order to
have the skills and knowledge. When the employees are sufficiently empowered through
training it will definitely motivate them and will eventually lead to job satisfaction. In TQM
programs the top management should be committed to empower the employees to resolve
customer’s complaint quickly and effectively after receiving proper training on teamwork and
problem solving techniques.

When organizations are thinking of implementing empowerment programs, it is very

imperative that the management should develop and communicate definitions clearly. If
definitions are not clearly stated employees may develop their definitions and it may bring
about some inevitable ambiguity within the organization. Empowerment programs should be
designed in such a way that employees who have very little or no power may have some
powers to overcome some forms of dominations such as the control of some key resources
within their domain and also having access to make decisions as well as questioning some
imperatives about the organization.

It has also be shown in this study that TQM requires a turn around in corporate culture as
compared to the old transitional form of management in which the top managers gives order
and the employees simply obey them. In a full TQM program the organizational chart is more
flattened and there is a shared responsibility between managers and employees and this will
eventually resolve quality problems faster and easier because every one will be responsible
for their activity.

26
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